Salmonella in uncooked retail meats in New Zealand

A national quantitative survey of Salmonella in five types of uncooked retail meats in New Zealand was undertaken from August 2003 to May 2005 to establish baseline proportionality data. The overall prevalence of Salmonella in 1,108 meat samples was 1.1% (95% confidence interval, 0.6 to 1.9). Low prevalences of Salmonella in each meat type were observed, with 3% (1.2 to 6.1) in chicken, 1.3% (0.3 to 3.8) in lamb and mutton, 0.5% (0 to 3.0) in unweaned veal, 0.4% (0 to 2.4) in beef, and 0% (0 to 1.6) in pork. The Salmonella serotypes isolated were Salmonella Infantis from beef; Salmonella Typhimurium PT1 from unweaned veal and chicken; Salmonella sp. 6,7:k:-, Salmonella Enteritidis PT9a, Salmonella sp. 4,5,12:-:-, Salmonella sp. 4,12:-:-, and Salmonella Typhimurium PT160 from chicken; and Salmonella sp. 4:-:2 and Salmonella Brandenburg from lamb. Four of the isolates from chicken, Salmonella sp. 4,5,12:-:- (two isolates), Salmonella sp. 4,12:-:-, and Salmonella Typhimurium PT1, were very similar phenotypically and serologically to the attenuated Salmonella vaccine strain used in MeganVacl for poultry. One lamb sample yielded a count of Salmonella Brandenburg of 4.24 most probable number (MPN)/g, while all other positive samples were <1.0 MPN/g. The results provide baseline proportionality data for Salmonella in retail uncooked meats that will contribute invaluably toward future risk assessment in light of other information, such as consumption data that can be used for risk characterization.